WOODS CROSS – The Woods Cross Wildcats boys’ basketball team will have several returning players to its roster this season.

It’s positive news for coach Kasey Walkenhurst, who is entering his second season as the basketball coach and is looking forward to getting the team off and running.

“It took us a while to get used to it,” he said, “but we developed some great ground work and I can see it paying off already.”

Although the team doesn’t return a single starter from last season, there will be a core group of players that will see some varsity time.

Luke Jowers and Xequille Harry, a pair of players coming off the football field, as well as Jackson Pohlman and Travis Howey, will provide the team with senior leadership.

Garrett Grant, who saw a lot of playing time last season, also returns and could be part of the starting lineup.

“They got a lot of experience by playing together last year,” he said. “They also know how to play at the varsity level, which is an added bonus.”

Woods Cross will have its hands full with the addition of two new teams to the region; however. The addition of Judge Memorial and Kearns means more region games, but there are still a couple teams that will be front-runners for a region title.

He also said he likes the addition of more region games because teams will have less time to get their team put together and will be put to the test early.

“Once you get into region play, the teams don’t change much and the games really mean something,” he said. “I’m excited that the region is bigger.”

Walkenhurst’s goals for the team are simple: to play good basketball once February comes around.

“The goal every day is to simply improve each day,” he said. “If we’re going to play good basketball by February, we’re going to have to have the building blocks to get there.”